I’m planning a blog post with my solutions to improve the health care system in the United States.
In the meantime, read this. Pretty good place to start.
Rather than increase government spending and control, we need to address the root causes of poor health. This begins with the realization that every American adult is responsible for his or her own health.
Pretty much sums it up.
Windy Recycling Day 
August 14th, 2009 at 4:03 pm
So much debate is going on pointing out how bad the collectivist approach of the Obama/Democrats will be for our health care, but where is the advocacy of a workable solution?
Here is a brief outline of where we need to go with US health care:
The Modern Health Care Solution
We need to reset our health care system back to a free-market, patient-driven system. Every other successful part of our society runs this way- why not our health care for goodness sake?! We need:
1. Market-based pricing of health care. We need medical Care/Service/Procedures priced up front like everything else in our society- not the price/cost black-boxes of today’s employer and government-subsidized health care.
2. Minute-clinics and similar no-appointment, transparently-priced clinics are going in the right direction of delivering this concept:
http://news.minnesota.publicradio.org/features/2006/01/23_zdechlikm_coninfo/
3. Just like with the fair, portability of pre-tax 401k’s, we need fair, portable pre-tax health savings accounts for everyone to save their own money over time, make their own decisions on health care, and pay it with their own money.
4. Make health care ‘insurance’ back into actual insurance. Couple health savings accounts with high-deductible catastrophic health insurance policies that people buy like they do for life insurance or car insurance.
The above approach gives everyone the access, proper control, and choice over their health- not the opposite helplessness dictated by some far away, faceless bureaucrat.
August 14th, 2009 at 5:50 pm
I am dying to hear an elected or electable politician say that.
August 15th, 2009 at 10:12 am
@Philosopher – Your’re right, there’s too much ‘this won’t work’, and not enough ‘here’s an idea that might work better’ in the current debate, on both sides.
We get into the weeds about what will and won’t work, and miss the big picture.